After a third-quarter run, Morgan was back in the game, but Cromwell's Janelle Harrison, who is going to the University of Hartford in the fall, scored 11 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter and the Panthers won 49-47 in a very loud, packed Cromwell gym.

Morgan led 47-45 after Lily Dawson hit a shot with 40 seconds left, but Harrison made a basket and was fouled with 25.2 seconds left and made the free throw to put Cromwell up, 48-47. Morgan missed its next shot and Harrison made one of two free throws with 1.8 seconds left to clinch it.

"At the end, we looked to our two seniors [Harrison and Emily Appleby] in situations like that and I thought they came through," Maher said. "They didn't get rattled; they did the little things necessary to win and made the stops."

Cromwell, 15-1 and sixth in The Courant's area rankings, led 12-0 in the first quarter before Morgan scored with 1:08 left in the quarter. The Panthers pushed the lead to 26-11 at halftime.

But Morgan, 13-2 and ranked 10th, roared back, outscoring Cromwell 22-7 in the third quarter. Sophomore Sami Ashton had 11 of her team-leading 19 points in the third.

"We really just executed our defense a little better in the second half than we did in the first half," Morgan coach Joe Grippo said. "They're an incredibly talented team. All in all, defensively in the second half, I'm totally pleased with what we did."

Morgan opened the second half with an 11-0 run. Cromwell was flustered. The Panthers were having a hard time finding Harrison and were getting outrebounded and outhustled by Morgan.

"I think we got a little too comfortable with our lead, and not that we gave up, but we didn't keep up the same intensity," Harrison said.

And the score was tied at 33 by the end of the quarter.

It was close throughout the fourth but when Morgan center Josie Sullivan fouled out with 2:22 left, the Huskies didn't have anybody to guard Harrison.

"When Josie was on the court, we could compete with them but when she wasn't out there because of foul trouble, that's the only kid we have who can guard Harrison," Grippo said.

"I give the kids credit for getting back in the game but once you get back in, you got to figure out a way to finish it."